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Rip Curl Soul Surfer

Rip Curl Soul Surfer

I paddled out right around sunset at the jetty. I didn’t think about what had happened earlier that day, what I was going to do after, or even what I was doing at that moment. It’s all muscle memory anyway. All my thoughts melted away somewhere in the sand. I paddled out to the break, right hand stretched out to the top of my board, left arm dangling in the water. I felt the cool ocean flow between my fingers. I didn’t think about school, how shrinking paychecks dictate my now canned tuna and Tapatio hot sauce diet, work, the fact that my gaslight had been on for a couple days. It also didn’t dawn on me that this is probably what professional Rip Curl Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton was doing on Halloween morning in 2003, excluding the tuna and gaslight. She was enjoying the ocean, and nothing else.

A flash of grey, massive pressure, and red everywhere as blood stained the ocean water all around her in what was perhaps one of the most horrific and terrifying moments in her life. The young surfer was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing one of her favorite spots on Kauai. Despite having lost her arm she continues to follow her dreams and ambitions and is as driven as ever. Almost a decade later she is fully recovered, surfing professionally, and using her story to encourage others to get back on the board. Her new movie, Soul Surfer is out in theaters everywhere on April 8th, and is really more of a documented Biography. After losing her arm Hamilton feared never being able to surf again.

The movie is the story of her struggle to get back in the water and learn how to cope with her new life. Directed by Sean McNamara, it was filmed in Hawaii and casts Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as Hamilton’s parents not to mention the likes of Anna Sophia Robb as Bethany, and even Carrie Underwood as her encouraging youth pastor, not a bad casting line up for a surf movie. Besides the A-list celebs and incredible story, the movie is a depiction of Hamilton’s beliefs, values, and dreams. Being able to paddle out is a privilege, and sometimes we may take it for granite or just not think about it. Hamilton encourages people in her movie to keep fighting. In an interview with pro surfer Mary Osborne, Hamilton said the one thing she wanted young girls to know was to, “Live your dreams and work hard at what you believe in stand firm and don’t let the world tell you are what you aren’t.“

To find out more about Bethany Hamilton or her new movie Rip Curl Soul Surfer you can visit her website: